Fairy Tales From Around the World

The Princess and the Pauper

Madame Scarlet saw the Princess and thought she was Alice.

"You lazy girl!" the old dressmaker scolded. "You're not leaving until every dress is finished." Then Madame Scarlet locked Princess Tifa in the shop.

The Princess tried to send a message to the palace. She tied her royal ring to one of Madame Scarlet's dress labels and attach it to Kairi's collar.

"Take this to the palace," Princess Tifa instructed her cat. "When they see the label, it will lead them here."

Unfortunately, Rufus found Kairi first. He went to Madame Scarlet's dress shop and pretended that he wanted to help Princess Tifa. But instead of returning her to the palace, he took the Princess to the abandoned crystal mine. When Princess Tifa found Cloud tied up, she realized that Rufus was behind her kidnapping.

"Now I'm going to tell the Queen you've been in an unfortunate mining accident and she'll have to marry me to save the kingdom," Rufus said.

"No one will believe you," said Princess Tifa.

"They will when they see this!" Rufus laughed as he showed them the Princess's ring.

Rufus left the mine and had his men knock down the beams leading to the entrance. Princess Tifa and Cloud were trapped!

At the palace, King Yugo offered Alice a beautiful engagement ring and asked her to marry him.

"But that girl isn't the Princess," Rufus announced. "She's an imposter!"

"What proof do you have?" asked King Yugo.

Suddenly, Rufus's dog, Xemnas, jumped and pulled off Alice's wig, revealing her purple hair.

"And look at her shoulder," Rufus directed. "There's no royal birthmark. Take her to the dungeon!"

The King's ambassador was outraged. He made Yugo leave the palace immediately.

Rufus held up Princess Tifa's royal ring. He told Queen Thea that the Princess was dead.

"What will I do without my daughter!?" cried the Queen. "What will become of my kingdom now?"

"I can save your kingdom," said Rufus. "I've made quite a bit of money in my business. Marry me and your problems will be solved."

Reluctantly, Queen Thea agreed.

Meanwhile, the Princess and Cloud were desperately trying to find a way out of the crystal mine. Suddenly, Alice's cat, Sora, appeared. The clever cat led them toward an old mine shaft, but they couldn't climb to the opening. It was too steep. As they stopped to rest, Tifa noticed a rock that had split open, showing sparkling stones.

"Look! Materias!" exclaimed the Princess. "I've never known we had them in the mine."

Cloud swung his pickaxe and dislodged some of the rocks near a bubbling pool of water. The water shot up like a geyser.

"That's the way out!" shouted Tifa. The water filled the mine and lifted them through the shaft to freedom.

Meanwhile, Alice sang a beautiful song that slowly put the guards in the dungeon to sleep. She then tiptoed out, right into the arms of - King Yugo! He was dressed as a guard and had returned to rescue her.

"What are you doing here?" Alice asked the King.

"I don't care if you're not the Princess," King Yugo said. "I love you for being who you are."

"You're the first person who's ever believed in me," said Alice. As she spoke, she realized that the King is indeed in love with her. But there was no time to waste. The palace guards would soon realize that Alice was missing. The King and Alice ran to his chocobo and rode off to safety.

The wedding of Rufus Shinra and Queen Thea Lockhart was about to begin when Princess Tifa burst in.

"Stop the wedding!!" Tifa shouted.

"It's the imposter!!" Rufus exclaimed.

"No, Rufus," the Princess said as she showed everyone the crown-shaped birthmark on her shoulder. "I'm Princess Tifa Lockhart and I'm still alive."

Knowing that his evil plan was falling apart, Rufus tried to escape. He jumped onto his chocobo Ventus, and raced away. But Ventus realized that Rufus was evil and galloped right back to the palace. When the chocobo finally stopped short, Rufus landed on the royal wedding cake and was quickly arrested.

"When I think about what might have happened..." Queen Thea shuddered.

"But it didn't, thanks to Alice and Cloud," Princess Tifa said. "Cloud is the man I love. He had Alice pretend to be me so that he could save me."

"I want you to be happy," the Queen told her. "But the kingdom is in trouble."

"Don't worry, Mother. The crystal mine isn't worthless after all," the Princess explained. "We found materias in the mines. They're very valuable and will save the kingdom!"

Then the Princess thanked Alice and paid off the girl's debt at Madame Scarlet's shop. Alice was free!

King Yugo proposed to Alice. And after following her dream of singing and traveling the world, she returned to marry the King. That spring, the most beautiful double wedding the kingdom had ever seen took place. Princess Tifa Lockhart married Cloud Strife and Alice Tsukagami married King Yugo Ogami. Kairi and Sora had many, many kittens together. And they all lived happily ever after.